Queens’ Morning Roundup

No more super-sized Cokes. Forget about 64-ounce stomach-busting sodas at KFC. Even 20-ounce Snapples are on Mayor Bloomberg’s latest health-conscious hit list. In a dramatic move to reduce obesity, the city is going to become the first in the nation to impose a 16-ounce limit on the size of sweetened beverages sold in food establishments that receive letter grades from the Health Department, as well as mobile food carts. Read more: [New York Post]

Queens super-speller Arvind Mahankali advanced to the semifinals Wednesday in his third Scripps National Spelling Bee. Arvind, 12, knocked out “garibaldi,” a blouse inspired by Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, and “apparatchik,” a Russian derivative referring to a mindless follower. Read more: [New York Daily News]

Cops release sketch in hunt for Queens rapist

Police have released surveillance video and a sketch of an alleged rapist who attacked a woman on a Queens street late Sunday night. The 19-year-old victim was walking on 89th Avenue between 102nd and 104th Streets in Woodhaven around 11 p.m. when the sicko grabbed her from behind and forced her to the back of a house where he sexually assaulted her, police said. Read more: [New York Daily News]

MTA Ahead Of Schedule On East Side Access Tunnels

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it is ahead of schedule on one leg of its East Side Access project. Crews completed the third of four tunnels Tuesday that the MTA is building in Queens, seven weeks earlier than planned. Read more: [NY1]

Phillies rally over Mets in 8th but Cliff Lee still winless

Even with a sore hamstring, Carlos Ruiz had no trouble trotting around the bases. Ruiz came off the bench to hit a tying homer in the seventh inning, Jimmy Rollins added a three-run shot and the Philadelphia Phillies busted loose late in a 10-6 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night. Read more: [ESPN]

Comedian Steve Hofstetter comes home to Forest Hills Jewish Center

Comedian Steve Hofstetter, 32, is taking his “stand-up routine on the road for a return benefit performance at the Forest Hills Jewish Center on Sunday at 4 p.m. Read more: [New York Daily News]